


A Gathering of Fools

by BethanyJDoll



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5
Genre: Crossover, Dark, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27257293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BethanyJDoll/pseuds/BethanyJDoll
Summary: Minato Arisato gave his life to become the great seal and seal away Nyx. They were told that if he stopped being the seal then Nyx would return. So when he is found in his old dorms nearly half mad, SEES comes back together to discuss what it means.Yu Narukami descovered the truth. He and his friends solved the Inaba murders and the mystery of the fog, in doing so they erased the midnight channel. So when it comes on again one night he gathers his friends again and the Investigation Team takes the case.Ren Amimaya rebelled against a God. He and the other phantom thieves stood against control and cemented humanities right to govern it's own fate but in doing so they erased the metaverse forever. So when Ren finds the metaverse navigator on his phone again he tells the thieves and prepares to rebel once again.But why are these things happening now? And why have the wildcards felt a sudden shift in their power?
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Takamaki Ann, Arisato Minako/Sanada Akihiko, Arisato Minato/Takeba Yukari, Kujikawa Rise & Narukami Yu, Persona 5 Protagonist/Takamaki Ann
Comments: 29
Kudos: 103





	1. Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Everyone! So this can be considered an AU fic. I haven't played Persona 1 & 2 so I'm not including them in this fic. I'm sorry but I don't know enough about them to do them justice. I also haven't played the arena games, so they're not canon in this AU. Oh also Arisato Twins is canon because I love them. As with my other fic I'll try to make sure the pairings won't be too prevalent initially but I do have plans that mean they will become more central later.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minato is descovered in the old dormatories who is quickly found and brought to safety but he's different. He's muttering to himself and he's as old as he would be if nothing happened. Minako isn't sure what to think about it. Yu can't sleep, he misses the mystery and thrill of the TV world. But when the midnight channel comes on and he sees someone who he's never seen before he begins to think that maybe it was better without the mystery. Ren can't sleep, then he's overcome with immense pain.

The dorms were quiet, almost abandoned. They were always quiet but never this quiet. Perhaps the others were at tartarus, if that was the case he could just wait here for them. He sat down on one of the couches and waited. What seemed to be hours passed by, he never did anything. He just sat in silence, waiting for someone to come back. The door groaned as it was slowly pushed open further than it was by someone.

"Hello? Is someone there?" A voice rung out.

"Who's there?" He answered back as the owner of the voice stepped forward into the light.

"I'm a police officer, some folks reported a strange man entering this old building. I presume that was you." The police officer said to him, slowly approaching.

"Strange man? I live here, with my friends." He said, confused as to why a police officer had just come marching into the dormitories.

"Nobody has lived here in years. This building was abandoned some time ago." The officer said to him.

"There must be some mistake. You see I'm a member of SEES, the Special Extracurricular Execution Squad. It's a school club you can check at Gekkoukan high if you want, it's registered there." He responded with. He stood up, this officer clearly was pushing for something, but what was beyond him.

"I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean. The people who own this building closed it years ago so technically you're currently trespassing." The police officer said sternly.

"They closed the dorms? When did the school close the dorms?" He pondered, wondering why nobody had told him.

"The school? No it's the Kirijo group that owns this building." The officer said.

Kirijo group. Mitsuru. Ikutski. The thirteen shadows. The midnight hour. Tartarus. Nyx. Suddenly everything came rushing back to him. He was the great seal, he had to go back, he had to seal Nyx away! If he didn't then his friends would die and he refused to lose anyone else.

"Are you okay?" The police officer said now standing in front of him. "You're muttering to yourself. You don't seem drunk or high so what's up with you.?"

Nyx. He had to find Nyx! He was the great seal that held her back. If he had been revived then there was nothing stopping her. Tartarus, he had to go back to tartarus.

"Tartarus? What's tartarus? You're muttering about Nyx, are you a member of that cult?" The police officer asked but the man just kept muttering. "I should call this in. Dispatch, this is Officer Kurosawa." He said into is radio.

"This is dispatch, go ahead."

"I'm at the old dorms, investigating the reports. There's a man here, he's muttering to himself about Nyx. I think he's a member of that cult, he's gone into a fit and doesn't even acknowledge I'm here. Please advise."

"I'm sending a medical team and another officer your way, they can determine if he needs medical treatment. Stay with him until they arrive."

"Copy dispatch." Officer Kurosawa said. "Well I guess now we wait." He said to the muttering man.  
\-----

Akihiko arrived at the dorm. He'd been dispatched to help Officer Kurosawa and a medical team with some crazy guy who'd wandered into the old dorms. As he approached the door, walking behind the medical team he sighed. "Never thought I'd be inside this place again." He mumbled as he stepped through the door.

He froze as he saw a man that looked eerily familiar. Unkempt blue hair and a light build. He was wearing the Gekkoukan uniform, despite looking to old to be in high school. And those headphones. "What? What the hell?" He said to himself. He rushed over to him.

"Minato? Hey, can you hear me? It's me Akihiko." He asked him in an attempt to break him out of his mutterings. Minato looked up at him, making eye contact for a second before going back to the muttering fit.

"You know him Akihiko? Before he went into the fit he said he was a member of SEES." Kurosawa asked.

"Yeah I know him or at least I used to, it's complicated." He turned to the medical team. "A normal hospital won't be able to help him, let me take him to the Kirijo Group." Akihiko asked.

"Well physically he's fine. There'd be no reason to take him to a normal hospital anyway. Normally we'd take him with us until we can figure out who he is but if you say you know him then that's one problem solved already." One of the medics said.

Akihiko took out his phone and phoned Mitsuru. "Akihiko, what's up?" She asked when the line connected.

"You need to come to the old dorms right now... Minato's here. I don't know how but he's here, he's older and he seems half mad." Akihiko said quickly.

"He's what? Are you sure? I... I'm on my way." She said and the line went dead.

He turned his attention back to Minato dreading to think about what this meant for Nyx.  
\-----

It was really him. It was Minato. Mitsuru had ordered blood tests and some other checks that took some time. It was now about an hour before midnight and the results had confirmed the same thing. It was really him.

He was now sitting crouched in a ball muttering to himself again in the corner of the room. Mitsuru didn't know what to do.

"How is he here? He's supposed to be the great seal. And why is he as old as we are as if nothing ever happened?" She asked.

"I don't know Mitsuru. I'm as confused as you are. Minako said that she hasn't been visited by Igor so she's as confused as we are." Akihiko said, scratching an itch on his head.

"How did she take the news?" Mitsuru asked him.

"Honestly? I don't think she believes me, she mourned him for years and now suddenly he's back. Even without the repercussions of his return that's alot. I wish I was with her right now." Akihiko admitted.

Mitsuru sighed. "She's with Takeba and Yamagishi. They're strong, she'll be fine. But I know how she feels, I don't think I fully believe it either. Part of me thinks this is just a dream or an illusion or something." 

"Well, if we believe it or not is one thing but he's actually here. Our friend is back and he's half mad. What are we going to do?" Akihiko asked, truthfully he shared his friends and his Fiancé's mindset about this but he wouldn't admit it, not yet at least.

"I don't know Akihiko. I honestly don't know." Mitsuru said asshe sat down.

Suddenly Minato stopped muttering and stood up. Looking at both of them. "Our contract has been fulfilled." He said.

"What's he talking about now?" More mutterings?" Akihiko wondered.

"No this is... different. Let him talk and write down everything he says, I get the feeling that these aren't just mutterings." She said.

"You were truly a remarkable guest." He said then suddenly turned to Mitsuru. "No one can escape time; it delivers us all to the same end." He said then turned to Akihiko.

"I don't know how to live without him Aki. We've never left each others side since our parents died." He said, Akihiko paused.

"That's what Mina said to me after he died. How can he know that, nobody else was even near us." Akihiko said.

"We'll wonder that later just keep writing down what he says." Mitsuru said demadingly.

Minato turned back to face away from them again and began muttering until he suddenly spun around. "My friends faced their own shadows and came out stronger for it, but I never faced mine." He said calmly then looked down and muttered again then stopped and looked up.

"I like the you who found her... Senpai... I love you..." He said sheepishly. Then he walked around in a circle muttering, Akihiko and Mitsuru looked at each other concerned. Suddenly Minato stopped. "Th-thats ridiculous. We already know Namatame's the one who put them all in!"

"None of what he's saying is making any sense. I don't get it." Akihiko said, frustrated.

"Yes, before that happens we will take this country!" He said, standing proudly. Then he clutched his head in pain and fell to his knees. "Loud, it's so loud!" Mitsuru went to help him but before she could he looked up at her, looking unhinged. "Teammates!? Friends!? To hell with that!" He shouted before clutching his head in pain again and falling to his knees.

Mitsuru crouched down and took his shoulders which made him look at her. He made eye contact with her, it was longer than he had previously and there was a look of recognition in his eyes. "You remember me?" She asked at seeing this.

"You're... Penthesilea. No no no she's gone. Evolved into Artemisia. You're Artemisia." He turned to Akihiko. "And you're Caesar."

Mitsuru and Akihiko looked at each other. Akihiko spoke up. "Those are our Personas, do you remember our names?" He asked but Minato was already back to mumbling. Mitsuru stood back up.

"Perhaps he suffered brain damage? If he had a stroke or something maybe he can't differentiate between us and our Personas. I'll have an MRI scheduled for him, in the meantime we should keep an eye on him." She said then looked at the paper where Akihiko wrote the things Minato had said. It sounded like he was quoting someone. But was he quoting one person or multiple people? She had so many questions but little did she know, they would be answered in time.  
\----------

Minato was back. That's what Aki had said. He'd asked her if she'd been visited by Igor or gone to velvet room recently but she hadn't. She'd had nothing unusual happen in seven years and she was sick of it. But this?

She shook her head. He must be mistaken, Minato was gone. But what if he wasn't? She shook her head again and mentally reprimanded herself. Her brother was gone, he'd sacrificed himself to become the great seal and that was that. There was nothing that could bring him back.

She grabbed her phone and checked the time. Thirty to midnight, it'd been over half an hour since Akihiko had called her. She must have spent the time since then frozen, arguing with her own mind. But now she didn't know what to do.

What about Yukari? Should she tell her? She loved him after all and if Akihiko was right she deserved to know. And Fuuka, she'd figure out something was up when she saw her in the morning. She was good at reading people or at least she was better than most.

Suddenly there was an intense pain in her head. She fell to her knees and let out a cry of pain as she clutched her head. It was coming in waves each one more intense than the last, she thought she'd pass out from the pain. Then it suddenly stopped.

"What was that?" She asked herself. It wasn't a headpain not a normal one at least. It was like a wave of energy or a pulse from something. It reminded her of when she first awakened to her persona and it felt slightly similar to her first time being summoned to the velvet room.

A wave of nausea suddenly hit her and she felt extremely sick. The news about Minato potentially being back and the wave of pain had apparently messed with not only her mind but her body as well. Quickly she rushed to the bathroom and threw up, lord, she felt horrible. 

If she had planned to go back to sleep that night those plans were now ruined. The pain and the vomit had thoroughly woken her up. She hoped that she wasn't going to wake up Fuuka and Yukari with her vomiting, she did not want to have to explain the situation. She didn't even think she could if they wanted her to. 

\----------  
Yu was lying in bed wide awake. He couldn't sleep, not anymore at least. 

He and Rise were out all day, she was doing interviews and magazine shoots, he went with her for moral support at her request. He didn't realise how tiring it was so when they got back to their apartment he fell asleep almost immediately and Rise never one to miss the chance to cuddle with him, climbed into bed next to him and fell asleep as well.

But Yu had woken up. He had a dream about Inaba, the murders, personas and shadows. It was a dream he was familiar with, it happened now and then but it was different this time. He was in Junes at night when all of the tv's turned on, each was showing one of his friends on the midnight channel. When he tried to enter a tv he couldn't and he couldn't summon a persona either. Then someone approached him from behind and threw him in where he would then be trapped. But just before he was thrown in he was woken up by a massive pain in his head, it felt similar to a persona awakening in fact.

Now he was just thinking. Thinking about his friends and the velvet room. He sighed and turned to Rise, Yu wasn't one to go seeking adventures but he really did love them. However he'd had his adventure already, now he was just going through the maze of life. Then suddenly there was a flash of light and he covered his eyes at the sudden illumination. He looked out the window for it's source but quickly realised the light wasn't coming from outside.

He turned his head slowly to the TV in the room. The TV that was on. Yu reached for his phone on the bedside cabinet to check the time. It was midnight. "It can't be, can it?" He asked himself.

Rise moaned as she turned and sat up. "Yu what's wrong? And what's that light?" She said before seeing the TV and going silent. "It's midnight." He said as he stood up and approached the TV. He couldn't make out the full programme that was playing, there was alot of static. There were two people that he saw the first was a man, probably in his late twenties, he had blue hair. The other was a teenage boy with shaggy neck length brown hair and red eyes. The first boy was being cradled by someone and the second was leaning with his back against a metal wall, he looked injured. Just as soon as the midnight channel came on it switched off and Yu and Rise were left in darkness again. Rise reached over and switched on a light.

"The midnight channel. It's back." She said. Yu walked right up to the tv screen. Slowly he raised a hand to touch it. "Yu?" He looked back at her suddenly, as if she snapped him out of a trance. He walked back over to the bed and sat down next to her.

"We should look into this and who those two who appeared are. We'll let the others know tomorrow but tonight, let's just rest." Yu said.

"Right, sleep well." Rise said. Secretly she was worried about what this meant, if the midnight channel was back then something was bound to happen soon. She just hoped that Yu would be okay.

Yu was worried aswell. He'd had nightmares before he could deal with them that wasn't what woke him up earlier. What woke him up was something else. He'd felt a wave or a disturbance or something. It was like he'd felt a call similar to when he was first called the Velvet Room but more intense. He didn't know what it's origin was but it was something distantly familiar. Little did he know that he'd know soon what it was.  
\----------

Ren lay on the attic bed in Leblanc, he couldn't sleep. Not tonight, his guilt wouldn't let him. Ren was being tormented again, by his own mind and some of the voices in his head.

He switched on his phone, it was seventeen past midnight. Which meant it was officially a new day. He hoped his demons would leave him alone today.

Goro Akechi meant alot to Ren. He was the dark reflection of the person he could have become without his friends in more ways than one. Despite this, or perhaps even because of it, they were friends. And they were both victims in a game.

Akechi was the one victim who died. The only one who's heart, Ren couldn't change in time. The only one Ren failed to save. Something his demons made sure he'd never forget. But something was weird this time. Not just because the voices hadn't come.

He wasn't being haunted by his ghosts tonight. It was peaceful, it was nice. He sat up and looked out his window. Tokyo was peaceful and there were less lights on than usual, he could see more of the night sky tonight. It had a weird greenish tint. "Not seen that before." He said quietly to himself.

Ren turned to look at Morgana who was sleeping curled up beside him then smiled. Morganas ears twitched and perked up, his body then followed suit as his head focused on something outside the window.

"Morgana? What's up buddy?" Ren asked at seeing this.  
"You don't hear that?" He said back still looking outside the window. Ren looked outside the window again and stayed quiet, listening for a noise. After a minute of near silence, save for the usual city ambience, he heard nothing. "I'm not hearing anything unusual bud." He said then looked back to Morgana, who was now crouched seemingly in pain with his paws covering his ears responded by saying. "It's so loud, you really can't hear it?" Ren put one hand on Morganas back to comfort him and listened yet again, still nothing.

Then there was pain, intense and incredible pain in his head. He clutched his head and groaned in pain. It was coming in waves, each one more painful than the last. It felt extremely similar to when he first awakened to Arsené and pulled off his mask for the first time. The pain was overwhelming as it spread throughout his whole body and his muscles twitched. He eyed Morgana and saw him squirming seemingly also experiencing what he was, or something similar at least. He cried out as the pain he was experiencing became to much to bare as his consciousness faded and he passed out.

\----------

"Well that was quite sudden." An eager voice said.

"Yes, something has arisen. I think this will prove quite troublesome." A more mature one said.

"Perhaps our master will invite a new guest?" A boyish voice said.

"So soon after the last one? I do not think he will, brother." A young girl said.

"It's not unreasonable, this is a rather... unique situation." The mature one said.

"Mayhaps this event would require a previous guest. Our brother's guest has been craving another adventure, maybe she could handle this?" The eager one said.

"In that case, I must insist that my guest tackle this one. He is quite competent" The mature one said.

"Nonsense. My trickster and his thieves can easily steal this one." The young one said.

They heard a chuckle and looked as they saw Igor sitting behind them. "Oh how you siblings bicker. It brings a smile to my face sometimes."

"But master, you always have a smile on your face anyway." The eager voice said.

Igor blinked at her.

"Master, perhaps you can settle this for us." The young one said after giggling. "This sudden event no doubt requires a quest to handle it but we can't agree on which should deal with it." She followed up with.

"Ah I see. I have a feeling that this one will require more than one guest to deal with it." Igor said.

"Oh. Well in that case, this will prove very interesting indeed." The mature one said.

"If all our guests are going to be involved in this perhaps finally we can work together for once." The eager one said.

"Yes, that would be nice. Then we can finally see who's guest is better." The young one said.

"Ah. Because he's always smiling, I understand your joke sister. It was very humorous." The boyish voice said.

Igor spoke up and beckoned for them to come closer to him. "Now now, there is much we must do. Elizabeth, Theodore, Margaret, Lavenza you must all remain focused now. We must prepare the velvet room. Our guests will require guidance and assistance and we must be ready to provide it."


	2. Forewarning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wildcards deal with the aftermath of the wave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! This got alot more attention than I thought it would alot quicker than I thought it would. I will do my best to live up to your expectations. I'm not going to set an update schedule for myself yet, I don't want to rush myself with this I hope you understand. Anyway, please enjoy.

Intense pain was the last thing Ren remembered, but it was gone now. Now he was somewhere dark, it was metal with lots of pipes. The room was familiar yet different. He took a few steps forward but was suprisingly met a little resistance. He looked down and saw the floor was coated in a red liquid, no liquid wasn't the right word.

"Blood." He heard a familiar voice say from behind him. Ren turned around and saw Goro Akechi. Akechi and him had had a complicated relationship. They weren't friends but they were close which made it hurt all the more.

"Eerie isn't it." Akechi said. Ren looked around. "Yeah, i guess it is eerie." When he turned his head to face Akechi he was right in front of him. He spoke in a whisper.

"We're being watched." Ren spun around and began surveying the room, more critical than last time. "What is it? Shadows? I can take them." Ren heard a chuckle behind him.

"Arrogance is still your greatest fault." Akechi said. Ren looked at him, hurt slightly. "And yours was that you were always much too-"

"Rightous." Akechi said interupting him. Ren looked at Akechi curiously. Something was off, even when Goro appeared in his nightmares he was never like this. "Something is wrong, you're usually more..."

"Egotistical?" Akechi said, once again finishing his thought and sentence. Ren took a few steps back. "This is no ordinary nightmare." He said.

"Obviously." Akechi said. There was the ego. "What are you? Why are you here?" Ren said on the assumption that the Akechi before him was some sort of manifestation.

"Foresight will save you in the days to come." Akechi said. "Foresight? Days to come? What's about to happen?" Ren asked. He paused, this was silly. "You can't be here. This is just a dream, you're dead."

"Nonetheless, I am real, I assure you." Akechi said approaching him again. "Listen to me, there are two things you need to know." He whispered to Ren. "The first?" Ren asked.

"Inevitably all things die." Akechi said, looking him in the eyes. Ren was a little shocked, why did Akechi need to tell him that? "Yes. All things." Ren said hesitantly, agreeing with him. Akechi looked surprised at this.

"Hypocrisy coming from you." He said. "All things die." He repeated. Ren looked at him cautiously. "Even the innocent unfortunately." He simply said.

"Innocence is a lie, everyone sins at some point." Akechi said looking at him with what Ren thought was slight distain. "Okay enough of this. What's happening Akechi?" Ren demanded. He was silenced when Akechi placed a finger on his lips.

"Listen." He said. Ren took a breath and focused. He heard someone calling his name. It was familiar, the voice of a woman, a doctor. Tae? Ren felt himself drifting away, or was it back? "Wait? What was the second thing?" He asked hurriedly.

Akechi smiled and shook his head. "I told you already. Listen." Ren felt his dream fade as he gradually sensed reality again. He heard two other voices now, one was Sojiro so the other must have been Futaba.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw the three of them standing in the attic of leblanc. "You're awake. How are you feeling?" Tae asked. She pulled out a small notebook and pen.

"I feel fine. Wait, I feel fine?" He said curiously. "I was in pain, my whole body. Then I passed out but I'm fine now." He said, leaving out the dream part.

"I see, how curious. You're sure you're not in any pain." Tae asked. Ren nodded. Tae sighed. "Well then there's no reason for me to do anything. If you feel any pain or anything unusual then see me immediately."

"Thanks doc but why are you here in the first place?" Ren asked. "I can answer that." Sojiro said. "Morgana appeared outside the house making a racket, he woke me and Futaba up. He was looking pretty tough himself actually, apparently he was looking for help after you passed out. At least that's what Futaba thinks."

"He's okay by the way, he's sleeping on my bed. I thought it would be more comfortable for him than your couch." Futaba said, giving him a wink. Ren nodded to assure himself. "Thanka guys, I'm okay now." Ren said, noticing Tae had left. "In that case I'll open the shop, don't worry about working take the day off." Sojiro said walking downstairs.

Futaba waited until sojiro was out of sight then spoke up. "What happened? Mona said you were both suddenly overcome with pain." Futaba asked. "Yeah it was weird, it was a wave of pain kinda like a pulse. That wasn't the weirdest part though, I had a weird dream or something when I passed out. Do me a favour and note this all down." Ren said as he began to recall the story of what he experience to Futaba.  
\----------

"Is this another one of your jokes Minako? It's not funny at all." Yukari said angrily. She had the weekend free, all three of them did. It's why they decided to have a girls weekend and catch up, they invited Mitsuru but she was too busy. It was supposed to be happy and fun but apparently that was too much to ask for.

"I don't think she's lying Yukari, she seems genuine." Fuuka said, looking shocked.

"It has to be a joke, Minato's gone, we mourned him. I mourned him..." Yukari said, her face showing a variety of emotions.

"Honestly I don't fully believe Akihiko either. But he wouldn't lie about this and if it his him, isn't it worth believing?" Minako said looking at yukari. "The shock of it kept me up last night, I was vomiting."

"I thought I heard something last night. How are you feeling now?" Fuuka asked.

"I'm okay now. Or I'm not nauseous at least." Minako said giving her a reassuring nod.

"How about you Yukari? Do you feel nauseous?" Fuuka asked her.

"I don't... I... No. I don't feel nauseous right now or not yet." Yukari sat down, she didn't realise that she'd stood up at some point, probably in shock. "I do feel kinda dizzy though."

"I'll get you some water." Fuuka said, standing up before she was nudged back down by Minako.

"I'll go." She said, her presence wasn't helping Yukari digest what she'd told her. After Minato died Yukari became depressed like Minako, she didn't like to talk about it much which was understandable. Minako didn't either.

Minako got a glass of water and returned, she handed it to Yukari. She took it and started taking small sips from it while staring, lost in thought. "Where is he now?" She asked.

"With Akihiko and Mitsuru I think. We could phone them if you wanna check?" Minako said.

"No that's okay. As much as it's hard to believe, this isn't something they'd lie about. Let's go see him, today." Yukari said, standing up suddenly.

"Today? Are you sure?" Fuuka asked.

"No. But if it is him then I need to see him." Yukari said, answering her.

Minako nodded in agreement. "I agree. When's the next train there?" She asked.

"I'll look." Fuuka said opening her phone and searching on the Internet while Yukari and Minako left the room, probably to pack.

Yukari entered her room and shut the door behind her. She stood against the door with her back to it and slunk down. "Minato..." she sighed quietly. She wiped her watery eyes, so it wouldn't ruin the rest of her makeup. Slowly she stood up and packed a small travel bag, incase she stayed a couple nights with Mitsuru.

After packing her attention was drawn to a photo on her dresser. It was her and him together, a photo taken on one of their dates. She gently picked it up and looked at it, then she packed it too. She wasn't sure why exactly but she did.

She opened the door and saw Fuuka and Minako each with a bag of their own and waiting to go. They smiled at her, "Ready?" Minako asked.

Yukari took a deep breath before nodding.  
\----------

"I'm telling you man, it was the midnight channel. Rise saw it too." Yu said to Yosuke.

"You're serious? But why would it come back on now?" Yosuke said from the other side of the line.

"I don't know. I've not been taken to the Velvet Room and neither Igor nor Margaret has spoken to me." Yu said. "But that's not it. I saw two people on the midnight channel and I need help finding out who they are. They were both male, one had straight blue hair and the other had shaggy, light brown hair." Yu said.

"That doesn't really narrow it down dude. You're still in Tokyo right? If it came on while you're in Tokyo it could be anyone in the city, it's way too big to search." Yosuke said. "Even if the rest of us came to Tokyo right now it's still too big."

"I know but I have to try." Yu said. "Well then why don't you try looking at the news, maybe those two have been on the news recently. That's how it used to work, I'd look myself but I gotta get to work soon. I'll tell Ted what happened, maybe he'll know more" Yosuke said.

"Right. Thanks Yosuke, talk to you later." Yu said hanging up. He sighed. He turned on the TV and switched to the news, while looking on his phone online.

"What did Yosuke say?" He heard. Yu looked up and saw Rise standing in their bedroom doorway. 

"He said he'll speak to Teddy. Now I'm looking to see if either of the two people we saw were on the news recently." Yu answered.

"About that." Rise said. "The brown haired boy looked slightly familiar to me although I can't think of why or where I would have seen him." 

"It's a shame that Naoto's in a case already, we could really use her help on this." Yu grumbled.

"Wait a minute, that rings a bell. Naoto... Naoto... OH." Rise said then took out her own phone and started searching for something. "Here, I knew that the brown haired boy was familiar it was Naoto that helped me remember."

"Mentioning Naoto helped you remember?" Yu repeated curiously.

"Yeah, she's the first detective prince. This kid was called the second coming of the detective prince. Goro Akechi." She said showing him a picture of him.

"Oh yeah I've seen him. He's the one who was always talking about the Phanton Thieves right?" Yu said, nodding in recognition then took out looked him up on his own phone. "That's weird." He said upon reading something.

"What's weird?" Rise asked him.

"Some news reports say that he's been dead for six months."  
\----------

Minato opened his eyes and saw a familiar blue haze. He sat up and looked around, he was in some sort of laboratory or hospital room. However it had the blue haze and colour pallet of the velvet room. But he couldn't be in the velvet room, he was the great seal.

"Ah you're awake." He heard a voice say. Minako looked around and couldn't see anyone. Then he heard a cough come from below his eyeline. He looked down and saw a girl. She had yellow eyes, silver hair and a blue dress on, she looked kind of like Elizabeth.

"Greetings Wildcard. My name is Lavenza, I am Elizabeth's younger sister. I would explain more but much has happened, it's easier if my master explains. Would you follow me please?" Lavenza said leaving the room. Minato was confused but followed her.

They came to a bigger room, it was circular and misty however in the centre sat a long noted man at a desk. "Welcome back to the Velvet Room. Before you ask questions I will explain why you are here. So please, sit down." Igor said. Minato looked behind him and saw there was a couch that had appeared. He sat, it was very comfy.

"It has been around seven years since you sacrificed yourself to become the great seal. You saved your friends and the world, but now a powerful force has resurrected you. Due to the nature of how you died, your body and soul are currently seperate. This is why you are here. I pulled your soul here for safekeeping, until your body can reconnect with your soul." Igor said.

"I see. That's... alot." Minato said. "You will have company here until that time however. You have already met Lavenza. I believe you are also familiar with Theodore although just a little. Their older sister is here also, her name is Margaret. Like Theodore, she and Lavenza are the attendants of other guests, you shall meet them soon I think." Igor said.

"I will? I'm still wrapping my head around this. Who are the other guests? You mentioned there was a powerful force, is it Nyx?" Minato asked.

"You will find out in time who, or what this new force is. The other guests are like you and your sister, they are wildcards. They will be needed for the coming trials. You are the wildcard of death, your sister is the wildcard of life. The other two are the wildcards of truth and freedom respectively, you will all be needed..." Igor said, trailing on

Minato wasn't really listening now. His thoughts were turning to his love. Seven years Igor had said. He had so many questions about her. Was she happy? Was she with someone else? He hoped he would find out soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter isn't as long as I want it to be but I'm happy with. As a disclaimer future chapters will focus primarily on one of the wildcards, most likely in a cycle. This will probably change but for now it's what I'm going with. Thanks for reading xxx. (Also bonus points if you can figure out what Akechi's second message was.)


	3. Trauma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The phantom thieves gather in Leblanc to discuss what happened to Ren and Morgana and Ren's weird dream.

Sunday. Around 1:30pm. Cafe Leblanc attic.

Ren was standing by his bed, looking out the window absently. He was trying to distract himself, truthfully he didn't want any of this to be happening right now. The phantom thieves were his family and they'd always be one but he wanted to be an actual phantom thief again. He had suspicions but he hoped to God they weren't true, he knew that becoming a thief again while still dealing with his demons would lead to disaster. But at the same time, he knew when something was about to happen. That's why he, Morgana and Futaba had agreed that what happened was something that all the others should be aware of, that's why they were here now.

Futaba was lying on her chest on Ren's bed, typing away at her laptop with her legs swinging back and forth slowly in the air.

Morgana was sitting on the table they'd brought out, the same one they always do when they gather.

Haru was aitting by the table and sipping tea she made while petting and cuddling Morgana, she was the only one aside from Ren and sometimes Ann who he didn't object to being pet by.

Yusuke was sitting a bit back from the table, by the stairs and facing Haru, who Yusuke had decided 5 minutes prior was his sketch subject for the day.

Ryuji was standing and playing his portable games console while doing some leg stretches and exercises.

Ann was lying lengthwise on the couch reading a fashion magazine and was occasionally sneaking glances at Ren.

Makoto was also sitting at the table and had three notebooks by her. The first was her study notebook, the second was her old phantom thief strategy notebook, the third was one of Ren's personal notebooks.

"So let me make sure I've got this right one more time." She said.  
"On early Saturday morning at around quarter past midnight Morgana was woken up suddenly by a loud noise followed by incredible pain." She looked to Morgana who nodded. "Ren, then looked outside to see what was causing it but saw nothing unusual other than the weird green tinted night sky." She looked to Ren this time, who was looking out a window still. Then she looked to Morgana for confirmation, who nodded again. "Then, Ren was also overcome with incredible pain. Both of you describe the pain as incredible and coming in waves, as a result Ren passed out and experienced a weird... dream." She paused again and looked to Ren, who was slowly nodding. "In this... dream the late Goro Akechi appeared to him and said what Ren believes to be a series of mostly random sentences, which appeared to have been some sort of warning. This is everything he said to you, yes?" Makoto asked, gesturing to Ren's notebook.

Ren turned and nodded once more. "Yes, everything that was said to me in that weird dream i wrote down after I woke, Futava has a copy aswell." Ren briefly caught Ann's eye, who gave him a warm smile.

"So forgive me for askin, but why'd you gather us all? That all just seems like random events, maybe he just got a really bad headache." Ryuji said, putting away his portable games console.

"Call it me being paranoid but I think there's more here than we can see." Futaba said, not looking up from her laptop.

"I agree with Futaba. This all seems look random coincidence, but we know better than to just accept coincidence as fact. Even when it happens." Makoto said, writing some notes.

"That's right, besides I saw the weird green tinted night sky too." Yusuke said while sketching. "Hold that pose please Haru, you aswell Mona. You are perfect right now." He said, nearly in the same breath.

"Wait, you saw it too Yusuke? Why didn't you saw anything?" Ann said looking back at him.

"I just did though." He absently responded with. Ann looked at Yusuke. Then Ren, who was smirking at this.Then she looked at Makoto who was now noting this down. Then she looked back to Yusuke, who was still sketching. Then she shrugged and went back to reading.

"Perhaps it was just some sort of unusual phenomenon. Maybe an Aurora?" Haru asked while trying to hold her poses for Yusuke.

"I don't think so, I can't find anything about it online. If it was unusual there would be some kind of record." Futaba said, now looking up.

"There has to be some explanation for it. Green skies don't just appear guys." Morgana said, begrudgingly staying still so Yusuke could sketch him.

"Morgana is right, but part of me thinks it may be nothing. Keep looking for something online Futaba, we need to know if this was natural or not." Makoto said.

Futaba sighed. "What!? But there's an MMO event going on right now! I'm so close to setting a record!"

Makoto sighed this time. "Just... look into it at some point within the week. Please." She then added, she couldn't exactly command her to do things anymore. "I want to talk more about the dream you had Ren but I guess we can do that another time." She said, closing and putting away her notebooks. "If that's everything then we can head to Kichijoji now."

Under the table Ren bounced his phone in his hand. He was still debating if he should tell them or not. He stood up and took a breath  
\-----

Saturday. One day prior.

"Are you sure you want to stay with me tonight? Will Morgana be okay?" Ann asked, clutching Ren's arm as they walked down the street.

"I'm sure, Morgana wants to stay at Haru's anyway. I don't often have time without him so I figure I should make the most of it, as long as you're still okay with it that is." Ren said, if she had changed her mind that was fine. The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable.

"Of course I'm still okay with it!" Ann said, suspiciously quickly Ren thought. "She tugged on his arm a couple times. "You're my boyfriend you dummy, why wouldn't I be okay with you staying over?" She said with a smile.

"I... I figured that given... certain events previously. You might not be okay with it yet, the last thing I want to do is cause you any pain Ann." Ren said quietly, looking down.

Ren felt her soft fingers under his chin, steering his face back towards hers. Her face had a soft expression and her eyes were big. "Ren... you're not Kamoshida. He was a horrible, despicable, deplorable perverted beast of a man. You're brave, kind, loyal, sweet and you're the man I love. If you're worried about my experiences with him ruining our experiences together then don't be, he can't hurt me anymore." Ann said to him.

Ren looked at her. There was not a shred of doubt or fear in her eyes. So he nodded. "Okay." He said, keeping eye contact and smilling. They resumed walking, Ren's previously troubled mind was now at rest, he was no longer questioning staying the night with her. After all, it wasn't like they were talking about moving in together. His thoughts were interupted by Ann, who's head was resting on his shoulder. "I love you." She said

"I love you too Ann." He said back, resting his head on hers. They spent the rest of the walk to Ann's place just resting against each other. 

When they got to Ann's place she gave him the grand tour of her place, which included narrowly avoiding an 'avalanche of clothes' as she put it when he almost opened one of her closets. After the tour they both made dinner. Or rather, Ren made dinner while Ann encouraged him with loving stares. When it came time to head to bed Ren went for the couch, he didn't want to overstep boundaries, even after what Ann had said to him earlier. It wasn't like when she slept in his bed because this was her bed, it was safe and it was hers. However Ann wasn't having it, she practically dragged him to her bed with her where they snuggled. At least, that's what they'd tell her caretaker if she caught them... Ren was happy, happier than he'd been in a long time.

"AAA-" he heard a scream.

"Ryuji!" He heard another voice say in terror.

"Is this really it...? Augh!" Another screamed.

"No! No-" Said another one.

"... where did we... go wro-" said an additional one

"Ah... Aah" Another gasped in fear.

"I'm sorry... The mission's... a failure..." A final voice said.

With each one he felt his breath increase, he knew who they were. They were the last words of his friends before they disappeared from reality. Each one caused him to shake and quiver. Each one caused a pain in his chest. Each one he lost, a colour of his world disappeared, back to the grey it was before he met them.

He couldn't move, he watched them all disappear until it was just him left. Lying alone on the shibuya ground. That second he was alone felt like an eternity. Each millisecond felt like ten normal seconds, each one of them he felt like his heart was going to explode. Then the feeling stopped. 

Then there was another voice. Deep. Familiar. Unmistakable. "Once again trickster, you failed to protect them."

No! No he saved them and yaldabaoth was dead, killed by Ren's own hand. He didn't fail them! Ren thought.

"You think you didn't fail them, then where are they now Ren? Why did they disappear?" The voice said.

But he brought them back, he brought them all back. He thought.

"And if you protected them in the first place, they wouldn't have disappeared in the first place! They disappeared because you failed them. It was your fault! Your friends died because of you!"

Ren could feel tears on his cheek. The voice was right. They only disappeared because of him. And now he was alone in darkness.

"Ren!"

He was alone, his friends, his family was dead they were gone.  
AND.

"Baby can you hear me?"

IT.

"I'm here baby!"

WAS.

"Ren, listen to my voice!"

ALL.

"Wake up Ren!"

HIS.

"Ren! It's okay I'm here baby!"

FAULT.

"Ren! Come back to me baby!"

Suddenly there was light, it broke through the darkness and grew until he could see he was in a room. He was lying in a bed and saw Ann above him. She was crying and she was shaking, she was cradling him. "Ren?" She said asked with a shaking voice.

"Ann?" He asked back, his voice was suprisingly shaky too. And he could feel tears in his eyes and on his cheek. Seeing the eye contact and seeing him register her presence, he was suddenly ingulfed in a shaky hug.

"I'm here. I'm not going to disappear Ren. We're okay, we're all okay, you saved us." She whispered to him. Ren didn't know exactly what happened but now he could gather a pretty good idea. He squeezed her tight, never wanting to let go again and buried his head in her neck letting his tears fall in the process.  
\-----

Sunday. Around 1:40. Cafe Leblanc attic

Ren exhaled. "Let's go then, its been a while since we've been to penguin sniper."

Everyone stood up and gathered their things, preparing to leave. They were talking about something but Ren wasn't tuned in, his mind was elsewhere. He made sure they left the attic before him. He did a quick sweep to make sure they didn't forget anything. Then he took out his phone and swiped to the last page where there was an app with a red eye.  
\-----

Sunday. Around 9:15. Ann's place.

Ann was in the bathroom, having a shower. After what happened last night neither of them went back to sleep. But they talked and she reassured him. It was stressful for him, he couldn't imagine how scary it was for her.

He still wasn't sure what had happened. But she said she woke up when she heard him talking in his sleep. He was hyperventilating and crying but was still sleeping. When he screamed something about them all disappearing she tried to wake him up. That was all she said.

She forced him to have a shower before she did, she was very stubborn when it came to things like this and honestly he lacked the energy to argue. They were meeting the others later but they couldn't talk about this, not that he wanted to talk about it. But they would ask questions and they'd find out they were together and they'd both agreed to keep it secret, for now at least.

Then he heard a notification from his phone. He put his glass of water down and opened his phone, tapping on the blank notification. 

He was glad he put the glass down because otherwise he definitely would have dropped it. He nearly dropped his phone. It was the MetaNav. The MetaNav was back on his phone. Ren spent a good five minutes checking that it was real and not some prank from Futaba or someone else. But it was real. And back which meant one thing.

Then he heard the bathroom door open and saw Ann step out. He turned around and pocketed his phone, he'd deal with this later.  
\-----

Cafe Leblanc attick.

The Metaverse Navigator was back on his phone. And from what he could tell, only his phone. If any of the others had it they would have brought it up.

The Metaverse Navigator was an App given to Ren by Yaldabaoth that allowed him to navigate and enter the metaverse using his phone. It disappeared with the metaverse when Ren killed Yaldabaoth.

But now it was back which means Yaldabaoth wasn't dead. Ren had failed again. He shouldn't tell them, he decided. If he failed that was his burden to bear not theirs.

"Ren, you okay?" He heard Ann ask, she was standing on the stairs looking at him expectantly.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He said smilling. The lie was more to convince himself than her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I do feel really bad about doing this to my boy but you don't watch your friends fade from existence and then don't come out with some trauma. Ren was and still is the leader of the group, even if it's less prominent without the metaverse so he shoulders all the responsibility of the group. He's been doing it for a whole year already so by now its a very unhealthy habit he has. Things do get better for him I promise... eventually...


	4. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu researches the late Goro Akechi, hoping to find out about why he appeared on the midnight channel. The Investigation Team reunites to catch up with each other.

Dead for six months. Goro Akechi had been dead for six months. But a couple days ago he had appeared on the midnight channel. Part of Yu wanted to delve into looking into the midnight channel, but he would turn up no credible answers if he looked, so he didn't. Instead he looked into Goro Akechi, hoping something would appear that was unusual, something to investigate. But there was suprisingly little information, it was as if the world forgot about him six months ago.

He sat back and rubbed his face to relieve some stressed muscles. He was turning up nothing new, nothing he hadn't already found. He took a breath to calm himself. If he could find no more facts right now, he'd have to make a hypothesis. He looked back over to his notebook to review the information he'd found about him.

He first rose to prominence several years ago when he began solving the mental shutdown and psychotic breakdown incidents. He gained more popularity around a year ago when he took on the Phantom Thief case after they rose to fame. After that things get more complicated. In his various TV appearances he made alot if different statements, some contrasting others. In his most recent one, he stated that he was responsible for the arrest of the phantom thieves leader. After that day Akechi basically disappeared from the face of the earth. The only news mentioning him are people calling into question his authenticity given Masayoshi Shido's confession. That was the gist of the useful information he had gathered, it wasn't much at all. He was unable to find any other information, what was weirder was that he couldn't find any personal information about.

Yu knew he had no where near enough information to make an accurate hypothesis, but having one was better than not having one. If Akechi died of natural causes or in an accident then there would be coverage of it which means that it was likely he was killed. In Yu's mind there were only two likely candidates, Masiyoshi Shido or the Phantom Thieves. Masayoshi Shido's conspiracy was unveiled tobe big so it wasn't unlikely that one of his friends allies could have had Akechi killed, but what they lacked was clear motive. Perhaps Akechi had uncovered the truth or his investigating was interfering with their plans, it was useless to think about this, once again he had a lack of evidence about this subject. The Phantom Thieves however, had clear motive. According to Akechi himself, he was responsible for their leaders capture so they definitely had a grievance with him. But with this theory the flaw was that based on all evidence he could find, the Phantom Thieves don't kill their targets. Perhaps they made an exception for him? He was not well versed enough in knowledge about the phantom thieves to accurately hypothesise.

Yu sighed and looked at his watch, he was meeting with the soon. All his friends, the Investigation Team, they used to call themselves were all meeting today on Tokyo. It had been a while since they'd all been together and recent events provided a good reason. Rise had suggested a place in Kichijoji called Penguin Sniper, it was recent and was quite popular apparently. He stood up, shut off his laptop and put away his notebook. He decided that he should change clothes and look nicer, his current ones were too slack and informal he had decided.

Just as he was finishing buttoning his shirt, Rise shouted for him. "Senpai, you ready yet? We need to go." Yu gathered his things and hurriedly. "I'm coming, remind me which line we need to take?" Yu asked, trying to stop Rise from mentioning what she was about to. Rise just giggled as they left her place. "Just follow me. How is it that you can take longer getting ready than me and I'm an idol? It's actually kind of impressive." Yu rolled his eyes. "It pays to look nice okay, besides we've not all gathered like this in a while. I thought I'd dress nicer than usual." Yu said feeling downtrodden, it was true, often he would take longer than Rise to get ready but that was just because he'd start getting ready and then often get distracted or fall asleep. Hed been getting more tired recently, he figured it was the late nights. Yu followed Rise as she led them to the line they needed to go on. She wasn't wearing a disguise considering she was meeting with friends but she was done up enough that she wouldn't be recognised at a first glance.  
\----------

"There they are Senpai. Naoto! Kanji!" Rise shouted as she tugged on Yu's arm leading him towards them. Kanji and Naoto looked towards the voice then smiled upon seing Rise and Yu.

"Yu Senpai, Rise. It's good to see you both. You two look great." Naoto said, greeting them.

"Yeah, you really do. You both look so mature. Oh the others aren't here yet." Kanji added.

"Teddy is most likely holding them up, he's not been to the city much so he probably got distracted." Rise said, rolling her eyes. "Should we just head inside?" She asked.

"I wouldn't want to disturb anyone inside with our greetings when they do arrive, so let's not." Naoto said.

"Plus it's a nice afternoon, no reason we can't stay out a little longer. Hopefully they'll arrive soon anyway." Yu added.

"Cmon you guys, we're already late." A familiat boyish voice said.

"Hey, don't blame me! Chie's the one who forced me to pay for all the tickets." Another familiar, deeper boyish voice said.

Hearing this Naoto smiled. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear." She said turning to face her friends.

"Yeah well I'm not the one who got us lost by taking the wrong line! I thought you were from the city originally?" Chie shouted, storming after Teddy and Yosuke.

"Chie! Calm down, people are staring at us." Yukiko said, following her and desperately trying to calm her down.

"They still fight like they used to. I'm not sure if that's comforting or worrying." Yu said drawing a finger to his brow in concern. "Hey guys!" He greeted as they approached.

"Hey man. Sorry we're late, were you waiting for us long?" Yosuke asked.

"Not long at all. You're right on time." Naoto answered.

"We were? Teddy I thought you said we were supposed to meet half an hour ago?" Yukiko said, confused.

"What? I said no such thing!" Teddy said looking shocked.

"You did, you stupid bear. I remember that too!" Yosuke said accusingly

"I didn't tell you that! I'm bear-ry hurt that you accuse me of such lies!" Teddy said, with an offence expression.

"Hey! Leave Teddy alone, he wouldn't do that to us!" Chie said, siding with him.

Naoto sighed heavily. "I get the feeling this could take a while."

"Sounds like their journey here was eventful." Kanji laughed.

"I haven't missed this." Rise said shaking her head, pausing then looking at the group. "Who am I kidding, I've definitely missed this." She said then took a breath before joining the argument.

"Okay! Now that we're all here." Yu said, stopping the argument before it became more heated. "Shouldn't we head inside?"

"Oh right. We have a reserved table, it's a fairly large one too." Rise said heading towards the entrance. Yu and the others followed her inside.

Heading inside, Yu saw it was a nice place. There were dart boards on the far wall and billiard tables in the middle. It was fairly popular too, some couples and were sitting at some of the tables and a group of kids were playing billiards.

It was good catching up. Chie had been promoted from a patrol officer and Yosuke had also been promoted to a Junes board member. Kanji had taken over running the shop full time and Naoto helped when she wasn't elsewhere taking cases. Yukiko was now running the Inn full time and Teddy was still working as a Junes mascot, although he sometimes helped Yukiko at the Inn.  
\----------

As the afternoon turned to evening and some of the customers left, they decided to order drinks of a more alcoholic variety. It was decided that Yu would be the one to order at the bar.

Yu approached the bar and relayed everyone's orders to the man behind the counter, then something caught his eye. On the back wall behind the bar were several pictures, of who he assumed to be customers, one in particular caught his eye. "Excuse me, what's that?" Yu asked pointing to it.

"Oh that's where I keep pictures of some of my regulars and even some celebrities that have come here before. That one you're pointing to is a picture of those kids that just left, they're regulars and used to come here with that Goro Akechi Kid. But he doesn't came around anymore, he hasn't in quite a while actually." The bartender said looking at the photo.

"May I see it? I'll be careful." Yu asked. The bartender nodded and took the picture down then handed it to Yu before going to mix the drinks. Sure enough it was those kids that just left. A fairly tall boy with shaggy black hair and a cat standing on his shoulder, a boy with obviously dyed blonde hair, a girl with blue eyes and natural blonde hair in pigtails, another fairly tall boy who looked rather thin for his height, a smart looking girl with a braid in her hair, a smaller girl with orange hair and glasses, a girl in a pink sweater with floofy looking hair and finally, Goro Akechi. They all were posing and seemed happy, even the cat was posing, strangely enough. He flipped the photograph over, written on the back were names and a date. The names of the kids and the date the photo must have been taken. Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru and finally Goro. The date written was November 17th. Yu took out his phone and took a photo of the picture and the back, his intuition told him that this was going to be useful. He kept looking at the photo until the bartender put the tray of drinks down in front of him, Yu thanked him and handed back the photo. He returned to the table with the tray of drinks.

As Yu approached the table, he could hear Yukiko and the others laughing. "So next thing she does, is she comes up to the front desk and says, Ma'am I don't know who you are but I would like to speak to your manager." Yukiko said, before bursting in to a giggling fit.

"I would pay so much money to see her face when you told her who you were." Yosuke said, after laughing. "Oh drinks are here!" He said upon seeing Yu approaching.

"Finally, I've been waiting." Kanji exclaimed.

"Well you don't have to wait any longer Kanji. Your alcohol is here." Yu quipped, placing the tray of drinks on the desk.

"Hey, where's my order!" Teddy asked, seing his order was not here.

"We told you Teddy, you don't get alcohol. Not only do we not know what it would do to you but you're also technically not old enough to drink " Naoto explained to him. Teddy threw his head back and moaned.

"You seem distracted all of a sudden. What's the matter?" Rise asked Yu, seeing his changed expression.

"Oh it's nothing really. Don't worry." Yu responded, sitting down.

"Doesn't seem like nothing, what's bothering you dude?" Chie asked.

"I just..." Yu sighed. "A couple nights ago me and Rise were woken up at midnight." He paused before continuing.

"By what, the midnight channel?" Kanji joked. Yu made eye contact with a deadpan expression and Kanji's smile faded. "I'm glad we have alcohol." He said before taking a swig.

"You both saw the midnight channel? This isn't a joke right?" Yukiko asked in shock.

"Yeah, we really saw it..." Rise confirmed looking at her drink.

The others didn't know what to say. They were silent in thought until Naoto spoke up. "Maybe you were both hallucinating, if you were tired enough it's possible." She tried to reason.

"No, Yu called me the morning after. What he described was too vivid to be a hallucination." Yosuke confirmed.

Rise nodded her head. "Yeah and we both definatly saw the same people on it."

"Wait people? As in multiple?" Kanji asked.

"Yeah, there were two people on the midnight channel that we saw. One was a man, he was older than us and had blue hair, the second was Naoto's title successor, Goro Akechi." Yu said.

"Ted, can you tell if anyone has been in the tv world recently." Chie asked him.

"Like I told Yosuke when he asked, no one's been there in years, other than me of course." Teddy said, looking baffled.

"But that doesn't make sense. Two people on the midnight channel, neither of whom were in the tv world at the time." Yosuke said, shaking his head.

"Yu." Naoto said. "You said Goro Akechi right?" He nodded. "I see. But he's been..."

"He's been what?" Kanji asked, looking at her.

"He's been dead for about six months." Yu answered. "I've been looking into him, what he was doing, when he went missing, that sort of thing. I didn't turn up much that helped."

"So. First the midnight channel appears, this time with two people on it but one of those people has been dead for half a year. What about the other one?" Yukiko asked.

Both Rise and Yu shook their heads. "We've got no clue who he is."

"Well you know what this calls for! The Investigation Team!" Chie shouted. The others looked at her and her empty glass, she'd apparently just downed the whole thing.

"We did plan to stay here and couple days. We've got time to at least start an investigation, and when we get back to Inaba me and Ted can investigate the tv world just to be sure." Yosuke said.

"Well then, if there are no objections..." Naoto said, pausing incase anyone raised any. "Where do we begin?"

"Here." Yu said pulling out his phone and showing the group the photo he took of the photo by the bar. I saw this photo by the bar, until now I couldn't find any personal connections of his, the bartender says that he and some of these kids came here alot. Regulars apparently."

"Then we should look into these kids then, and how close they were with him." Naoto commented. Yu looked at her and noticed that Kanji's expression had changed, and not just his but the whole group's had.

"I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to bring down the mood. This was supposed to be a fun night not a serious one." Yu said, looking down and feeling apologetic.

"It's okay Yu, it's still a break from our normality so I don't mind." Yukiko said, speaking her mind.

"Yeah we don't mind! Although..." Chie began to sway a bit. "Detecting while drunk probably isn't the smartest idea..."

"She's got a point there." Rise said, Yu noticed she was slurring her words a little.

"What do we do now then?" Yu asked, looking to her.

"I know how to bring the mood up!" Teddy exclaimed standing up. "Kings game!" He said putting a fist in the air.

"Oh no, not that." Kanji said shaking his quickly. "Last time was bad enough."

"Come onnnn Kanji!" Rise moaned, now looking visibly more energised. "You're not scared are you?" She teased.

"HEY! I am not scared!" Kanji retorted with. "But the last time we played Ted ended up kissing me. That's not something I want to experience again." 

"It won't be that bad Kanji. Come on, you know you want too." Chie said. Also looking more energised.

Kanji gritted his teeth. "Ugh, fine." He said giving in.

"Well then..." Yu said, already producing several sticks. "Everyone take one." Everyone took a stick. "Who's the King?" He asked.

Naoto smirked and looked up. "I am. For my first decree, I order number 2 to down number 4's drink."

"What!" Yosuke exclaimed standing up and shielding his glass. "But this is my drink! I was looking forward to it! Can't you pick another number, why 4?"

"Hand it over Yosuke." Rise said with her hand outstretched. "The Kings orders are absolute!" Yosuke sat down and grumbled as he handed Rise his drink and watched her drink it all.

"She's had nearly two drinks now. She's gonna start getting really clingy to Sensei and kinda sleepy soon." Teddy said, which surprised them. "What, you guys can't tell?" He said when he saw everyone suddenly looking at him. Well, everyone except Rise, who was clinging and cuddling Yu's left arm.

Yu shook his head and pat Rise's head. Oh how he'd missed the Kings game.  
\----------

"Oh Senpai! Here? Now? You're so bold." Said a sleeping Rise, being carried bridal style by a flustered Yu. Kanji and Naoto looked at each other and then him. "I can explain that, it was around Christmas the second year we were together and we were in Junes when.... actually it's probably better I don't finish explaining that." He said looking embarrassed.

"Man... Rise sure drank alot tonight. I've not seen her this drunk since... well ever now that I think about it. Unless you count that one time during the school trip where she wasn't actually drunk." Kanji commented.

"Didn't you and Ted make out that night?" Yu said with a raised eyebrow.

"That's not what happened and you know it!" Kanji turned and said quickly.

They were walking down the street towards Rise and Yu's place, where Naoto and Kanji were also staying tonight. Kanji had noticed that Naoto had stopped a bit back.

"Naoto? Are you alright honey?" Kanji asked her, walking to her.

"Hmm? Oh yes. Sorry, I saw something and got distracted." Naoto said to him.

"What's got you distracted?" Yu said approaching and then looking to see what she was looking at. It was a tv inside a shop, it was on and tuned into the news.

'The Phantom Thieves. Where did they go?' That was what the news headline was. "The phantom thieves. Did you consider taking that case?" Yu asked her.

"Yes. I debated if I should or not many times. I eventually decided that Goro Akechi was quite competent and that if I offered to help it might seem... pushy at best." Naoto said, sounding disappointed.

"They've been silent for about six months now right? Even if you changed your mind there's not much you can do now." Kanji said.

"He's right. The last time they made any official statement was on Christmas, on their phansite. They wished everyone good luck and clean hearts in the year going forward, they also promised that Shido would be prosecuted for his crimes." Yu said.

Rise moaned and shivered as the cold night air began to set in properly. She unconsciously clung tighter to Yu as she began to shiver a little. "Mm, Senpai. I'm gonna strip for-" She sleepily began before Yu spoke up to drown out her sleep talk.

"Uh we should get going. It's getting cold." Yu said. He turned and continued walking. Kanji and Naoto shared a look then he followed him. Naoto took one last look at the tv.

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Her detective's intuition told her that they were involved with the case that they'd all decided to look into tonight. She sighed then caught up with Kanji and Yu, the Phantom Thieves were a concern for another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so something i want to make clear in regards to this chapter is that the IT haven't properly met up together in a while. They've kept in contact and everything but the last meet up they had was a while ago, sometimes personal stuff gets in the way. Hope you enjoyed reading xx
> 
> (Post edit.) Okay so it was pointed out to me that the first release of this chapter conflicted with part of chapter 2 so I've now fixed it so that it is consistent.


	5. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minako remembers memories of her brother. Mitsuru and Akihiko try to make sense of Minato's ramblings. Lavenza and Theodore get lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. So the first time I wrote this it accidently erased everything and I had to start over. The second time, I accidently posted before it was ready. This chapter has been frustrating to write and for that reason it'sshorter than I wanted to be the direction it took was a little different too. So recently I've had a wave of inspiration to write so I'm going to try and get through a decent amount so we can get to the meat of the story sooner.

Minako had fallen asleep, they'd managed to get comfortable seats on the train and she was tired. She had expected to dream but this dream was different than she expected. She didn't dream of her brother no, she dreamt of his lover.

She dreamt of speaking with her on the roof of Gekkoukan, she dreamt of speaking with her on the beach when she ran away after seing her father's video, she dreamt of fending off some guys who were harassing her at the train station, she dreamt of taking her to the festival at the shrine.

Each time she remembered the words she'd said then. How warm she was when they held hands. Her soft embrace when they hugged. Her name when she called it. Her lips when they kissed. But these are things she shouldn't remember, things that never happened.

She felt so... passionate about her. She remembered the way she felt when she first saw her, it was the same thing she felt when she first saw Akihiko. The crush that she had. But she didn't have a crush on her, so why did she now remember having one?

This was wrong, whatever she was feeling, whatever she was remembering wasn't right. But they felt so real so she was confused. She remembered things twice, she remembered talking with her on the beach but she knew that she'd stayed inside with the others then. She remembered walking in the festival with her but she remembered going to that festival with Akihiko. It was like her memory of reality was being overwriten. And if this was reality then what reason did she gave to deny it?

Then she remembered something different. She remembered going to the mall, alot. Particularly the arcade, she went with her sister. No she didn't have a sister. She... it was herself she remembered going with. She looked around and saw the familiar hallway under the karaoke, the hallway with a blue glow.

She took a step towards it. It felt like trying to walk through water. Each step felt like an eternity and took immense strength. When she reached the door it was closed, and had no handle. Wait, she had some way to open it didn't she. She couldn't remember, it was a... handle or a... a key. She felt her hand grip something and by it's own, move to unlock the door.

When she stepped inside the interior was not familiar. Gone was the elevator aesthetic and the couch. Elizabeth and Theodore were nowhere to be seen and neither was Igor. She turned suddenly as she heard a voice ring out. "Well."

She saw Igor sitting at a new desk, in a round room. A laboratory? No that wasn't right, but it looked familiar. "This is unexpected." The voice continued.

"Igor?" Minako said, her voice sounded weird and unfamiliar. "What's happening to me?"

Igor looked at her and tilted his head. "The memories of your brother are lost and looking for their own mind to return to. However they cannot find it and so they look for it's closet one like it. Yours"

Minako didn't know what to say. Minato's memories? "My brother? So he is really back then?" She asked him.

"He is among the land of the living, at least physically he is. But his mind is split between dream and reality. I am currently using alot of power to anchor it here, in the velvet room. My hope is that something in your reality will reunite the two." Igor explained to her.

"So, his memories aren't connected with his mind so they're trying to connect with mine? How do I stop it?" She asked desperately.

"Truthfully, I do not know. I have not encountered a situation like this before. Hmmm." Igor said, pondering.

"Perhaps? No I don't think so. Or maybe? Hmm." Igor drummed his fingers three times. "I think... yes. If those memories do not fade when your brother is restored to his former state then there is one who may have the power to help you. He holds the power of truth that will allow you to break through the falsities of the mind." Igor explained to her after deliberating with himself.

"What's his name? Igor tell me how to find him!" Minako demanded.

"He is like you, a wildcard. His name is Yu Narukami however you'll have to find him yourself." Igor said.

"Yu Narukami." She repeated to herself. She turned her head to ask Igor another question however when she looked where he was, Igor was no longer there. Then she blinked and she was awake again, on the train.

She sat up and stretched. She saw Fuuka listening to music and reading and she saw Yukari. Her heart fluttered at the sight of her. It felt like she hadn't seen her in years. She was so pretty when she slept, how did she not notice that before. Minako shook her head. These were not her feelings.

She took out her phone. Yu Narukami, she had to find him. If what she experienced in the Velvet Room was real then Yu Narukami could help her.  
\----------

"So, Our contract has been fulfilled, You were truly a remarkable guest. That's most likely something from the velvet room right?" Akihiko asked.

"Yes I think so. Based on what Minako has told us of it and it's residents. That with consideration of what we know about what Minato's situation with death was, it seems to be the logical conclusion." Mitsuru confirmed. 

"Okay, the next one then. No one can escape time; it delivers us all to the same end." Akihiko quoted.

"I'm not sure about this one. Ryoji perhaps? Let's move to the next one, that was Minako right?" Mitsuru asked.

"That's right yeah. The next one we have no clue other than they're a potential persona user, he mentioned shadows after all." Akihiko said.

"Unfortunately it doesn't sound like the type we are used to so that's speculation at best. The next one we have no clue for either." Mitsuru said grimly.

"The one after that talks about someone called Namatame. From the research I've done Namatame is the ex-mayor of a small town called Inaba. He was falsely accused of being the culprit of a seriel murder case, the real culprit was descovered to be one Detective Tohru Adachi." Akihiko read from a notepad he had.

"Based on the panicked way he said it I think it's a decent bet to say that it was the detective who said that." Mitsuru concluded.

"And... the next quote. We both know what that's from, it was what the Phantom Thieves leader said in that video exposing Shido. The quote after that we don't know, another phantom thief is a safe bet I think." Akihiko said.

Mitsuru picked up the medical reports again and read them once again. The extra tests she had ordered didn't give any results that worried her. "He hasn't had a stroke or suffered any brain damage, nothing that we can detect at least. But both the doctor and the psychologist agree that there's an issue with his abiliy to connect his memory and his cognition." She said.

"It doesn't sit right with me, keeping him sedated." Akihiko said, standing.

"I know, I don't like it either. But until we can grunted that he's not a danger to himself it's the best option." Mitsuru said, explaining her reasoning.

"Argh. Still doesn't sit right." Akihiko resigned.

"We'll wake him up before the girls arrive, I hope that seeing them will help him in someway." Mitsuru said, sighing.

Akihiko sighed as well and stood, walking to the nearest window and looking out. "I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about the elephant in the room. What does this mean for Nyx?"

Mitsuru looked at him. "I'm not sure, I've got people looking for signs and investigating the cult of Nyx. So far we've not found anything that would indicate Nyx is back, which is unexpected but if there are signs that pop up we'll know." She said. "But the other question we gave to ask now, is why he came back, nevermind how."

"That's too big a question for me to answer. We've not been in touch with tartarus, the midnight hour or even our Persona's for years. If something brought him back I doubt we know what it is." Akihiko stated.

Mitsuru grumbled. "I don't like not knowing, I prefer having all the cards I can." She reread Minato's medical report once more, searching again for answers it didn't hold.

Akihiko grumbled loudly. "Argh, we've got no clue. Why is this happening? Why now?"

"Patience Aki. When the girls get here they might be able to help us with this. Until then we just have to wait." Mitsuru said.  
\----------

"So this is Tokyo. I thought the buildings would be bigger, your description was not as accurate as I thought it would be sister."

Lavenza looked up at Theodore. "The buildings are just as big as they were when I was here last. It no fault of mine if your expectations were greater than reality."

"Perhaps, but the way you described the city was as if you were a gnome among giants." Theodore said, looking down at his younger sister.

... "Was that a joke about my height?" Lavenza asked.

"I... maybe. If it was then it was not intentional." Theodore said after pausing. He didn't fully understand what a joke was or why it was funny, but then again neither did Lavenza.

Lavenza pouted a little. "What I lack in stature I make up in... other ways." She badly refuted, trying to think of a retort.

"Now now little Ven, I'm sorry if I hurt you. Why don't you take me around, show me the places you enjoy." Theodore suggested.

Lavenza giggled. "Little Ven? I have not heard that name in a long time." She looked around at the many paths before her, truthfully she had no idea where to go. The last time she was here and she wanted to venture around, she'd follow the trickster. She looked at the path the velvet room used to lie on and pointed. "That way."

They began walking, barely managing to miss a car on the way. Lavenza showed Theodore the Big Bang Burger and the gym and even the airsoft shop alley where the velvet room once stood. Then Theodore spoke up.

"Are you sure that we should be out on our own. If Margaret or Elizabeth descover we went outside without them then-"

"It will be fine Theodore. Besides if they find us, I can just say this was your idea." Lavenza said smilling, innocently.

"Ah, that would get you out of trouble. How clever of you. Oh, but then I'd get in trouble instead." Theodore put a finger to his chin. "And, remind me, why are we here?"

"We are looking for the trickster remember? I must speak with him and you wanted to meet him, did you forget?" Lavenza asked.

"No... I was simply checking that you hadn't gotten distracted that's all." Theodore said turning away.

Lavenza definatly did get distracted. Being back in Tokyo this time unsupervised by anyone but her brother had meant she totally forgot about her main motive for coming here.

It was Cafe Leblanc, that's where he lived right? "It's a long way, we should start heading there." Hmm, Lavenza didn't want to walk that distance. Wait a minute. The trickster would often carry Morgana around in a bag for convenience of travel. So if Lavenza went up there, then ran and jumped from there then... yes that would work.

Suddenly Theodore felt a weight on his shoulders as his little sister suddenly appeared. "Wah?!" He exclaimed in shock. Lavenza kicked her legs in excitement, held onto him with one hand and with the other pointed ahead. "Mush Theodore, Mush!" Lavenza was having fun, Theodore didn't want to admit that he was having fun too.  
\----------

Meanwhile, on the otherside of Tokyo two ladies dressed in blue walk beside each other. "Please remind me Margaret, why we are here?" One asks.

"We are here to meet with my guest remember? You wanted to see if he was everything I said he was and trust me he is." The other responds. "Plus, if we are having a competition, one having a little advantage doesn't hurt anyone."

"Ah yes. Yu Narukami, I remember you wouldn't stop talking about him. Honestly it was a little refreshing, I've not seen you like that before." Elizabeth says.

"Like what?" Margaret asked her, curiously.

"Why, In Lov-" Suddenly a hand covered Elizabeth's mouth.

"I was not in... involved with his love life." Margaret said, silencing her sister but also suddenly looking rather... resigned. "And remember, you cannot tell Theodore or Lavenza that we went out alone. If they found out, they'd be super jealous and we'd never hear the end of it."

"Very well sister. I will follow your lead. Now, leas the way!" Elizabeth shouted while posing dramatically in a way that pointed in the way they needed to go.


	6. Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While working a shift at Leblanc Ren gets a visit from twi detectives. Then Ren seeks advise from Sojiro and us later visited by a familiar face.

It had been a long day, he seemed to be getting alot of those recently, it was wearing him out and as much as Ren was trying to hide it he thought that Sojiro was starting to notice. 

The days he worked in Leblanc were becoming monotonous. Pour coffee, make curry, clean dishes. Pour Coffee, make curry, clean dishes. He uses to really enjoy it but now... now something had changed.

Half a year ago when he was still a phantom thief, working in Leblanc provided a reprieve from his life of phantasmal crime. It was a sanctuary, a safe place where he would rest after helping to make society better. Now... he didn't know what it was.

After the metaverse disappeared and his phantom thief career with it he'd tried to live normally, like everyone else but honestly...he struggled. Ren couldn't pretend to be normal knowing he wasn't. Knowing that he saved the world. He shot a God in the head, how could he go back to normal?

But now, now he definatly couldn't. With the return of the metanav everything was in jeopardy. Yaldabaoth created the metanav, so it vanished when he was killed, but if it was back... then that would imply he's not dead. That Ren didn't finish him off.

Fighting Yaldabaoth again wasn't something Ren thought he could do. He wasn't even sure it was possible. It used to be, back when he was still active that in the real world he could still sense his Persona but he didn't have that feeling now.

He needed something to take his mind off of this. It was eating him alive and he knew it. He needed something that would help him relax, help ground him in reality again.

The bell rung suddenly as the door to Leblanc was opened. He turned around and faced the door to greet them.

"Hey, welcome to Cafe Leblanc. What can I can I get you?" Ren said with a smile. There were two customers who had entered. One was a man with blue hair and the other was a girl? They were wearing a blue coat and hat, they looked kinda familiar actually.

They looked at each other then at Ren then sat down. "We'll both have the house blend please." The one in the hat said.

"Coming right up." Ren said beginning to start making the coffee. He could see them whispering to scah other in the booth they were sitting in, occasionally glancing at him which wasn't unusual but there was an air of tension suddenly so Ren avoided eye contact with them. It was best not to make a situation in boss' shop.

When the coffee was ready he served them. "Here you go, two house blends." Ren said putting them down. He waited as they took the first sips before speaking again. "Actually yes." The silver haired man spoke. "You're Ren Amimiya aren't you?"

Oh no. These guys were cops. That was the tension he had felt, he must have unconsciously recognised something about them. His eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed. "Who's asking?" He answered.

"We're detective's. My name is Naoto Shirogane, this is Yu Narukami. We want to ask you questions about a late friend of yours." The one apparently named Naoto asked, he relaxed a little. A late friend. Ren thought to himself. The only friend he had who died was...

"Is it about Goro Akechi?" He asked, not knowing if he preferred if it was or wasn't.

They looked at each other in suprise, apparently they weren't expecting him to answer like that. "Yes, it is. It might be better if you take a seat."

Ren sighed and looked down. "Alright, give me one minute." Ren said, making sure that everything was in a safe enough state where he could stay and talk with them. When he was sure everything was, he sat down with them.

"Thank you. As we told you we're detectives and we are investigating the death of Goro Akechi. We understand that you both were close..." The silver haired boy, Yu Narukami said.

"Yeah... we were close. In a certain way I guess." Ren commented.

"What do you mean? In what way?" Naoto asked.

Ren hesitated. He took a moment to consider his words, trying not to share too much. "We... we were friends once. But he... he did something that hurt me but he also... it's complicated."

"That's okay, take your time." Naoto said. "This can't be easy."

Ren sighed again. "He hurt me and my friends so we weren't exactly on the best terms with him but I was definatly closer to him than the the others were, he was like a brother. To me I mean. Like... a brother who's disappointed you. Like he... like he left a long time ago and the person who came back wasn't the one who left. He was more righteous, more selfish... more misguided." Ren said pausing. He watched as they wrote down what he said and whispered to each other a few times.

"Can you tell us more about what you know about his death? Assuming it's not too uncomfortable." Naoto asked.

"No it's, it's fine I don't mind." Ren looked down, he had to think of something believable to say while not revealing what that he did know. He closed his eyes an took another deep breath. "I don't like to talk about it. None of us do. Akechi was our-, was my friend. I don't know how he died but I do know that a while ago, a mangled and disfigured body was found that authorities believed belonged to him. He didn't have any family, none living anyway. He never knew his father and his mother committed suicide when he was young. I wish I'd gotten to know him sooner, I really do. After the whole Shido scandal came out I learned that he was being officially buried, me and my friends attended. We were the only ones there. Goro Akechi was a good man and in many ways like my brother. I don't know why you are looking into his death now but I can tell you that any rumours you may hear about him being involved with Shido aren't true. And sometimes its better to just let sleeping dogs lie." He said standing, the last bit he meant as a warning. If they looked into it too far they would descover Shido and the metaverse, and in turn the phantom thieves and him.

He heard them whisper to each other. "Thank you. We knew that can't have been easy, we'll finish our coffee and then leave." Ren nodded a thanks and then went back behind the counter  
\-----

An hour before closing Sojiro came in. "I'm just here to pick something up that I forgot earlier." He said coming behind the counter and searching for something. Apparently he couldn't find it there so he spent the next couple minutes looking all over.

"What have you lost?" Ren asked him. Maybe he'd seen it and placed it somewhere.

"My spare glasses... Futaba said they might be here." Sojiro said grumbling. Wait, hadn't Futaba taken those earlier. Ren laughed a little. "What's so funny?" Sojiro asked him.

"She duped you, I saw her take them earlier." Ren said smilling.

"Oh that little- I'm going to kill her I swear." He said grumpily, marching towards the door. "Oh, while I'm here. How's business today?"

Ren shook his head. "Slow. Oh some detectives came by earlier though, asking about me and Akechi."

Sojiro tutted. "Who'd want to look into that twisted kid?" He said turning back to the door. "Anyway, keep it up."

"Hey Sojiro." Ren said. He was still conflicted, maybe what he needed was another opinion on the metaverse matter. "I need some advice."

Sojiro turned around again, sitting down in a chair. "Sure kid what's up?" He asked. "Relationship trouble?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, nothing like that." Ren assured him. "It's..." Ren wasn't sure where to start. "I thought that after I turned myself in and the metaverse was erased, that'd be it. That they'd be no remnants of being a phantom thief. But... something has popped back up recently. The others haven't noticed but I have, and I have no idea what to do about it." He said, trying to explain it to him as best he could.

Sojiro exhaled. "Wow alright. How big of a thing is it? Let's start there, is it serious?" He asked.

"Yeah it is. It's possible that something we thought was gone forever is now back." Ren answered.

"And is that a good or a bad thing?" Sojiro asked.

"I... I honestly don't know." Ren took a moment. "Bad, it would do more bad than good."

"So why don't you tell the others? You can put a stop to it." Sojiro said.

"I want to but-. It's just, this is something we all left behind, they all payed some price for being involved and I've been pulled back. If they get involved again the price this time could be alot worse." Ren explained, he wouldn't be responsible for another Haru's dad situation.

Sojiro sighed. "I see why you're so hesitant. You all had a rule right? That you made decisions unanimously. If this is about your other life then that rule still applies right?" Sojiro said, trying to find some logic.

"This is different." Ren dismissed. "It's not that same as picking a target."

"Maybe not but still. I get the feeling they're going to find out sooner or later and I think you do too. If there's one thing those kids picked up from you it's an endless persistence." Sojiro reaffirmed.

"Sojiro I just-"

"You know what I see when I look at you all together?" Sojiro continued, interupting him. "I see hope. Not just for you and not just for me but for every of sorry son of a bitch on this planet. Your friends have all lost something in their past and it changed them but then when you brought them all together, you became something greater. You changed the world despite your tragic pasts but you could only do it, because they were at your side. Last Christmas when you turned yourself in, in that letter you left, you told them all to move on, to forget about you. But they didn't. They didn't give up hope because you make them better than they were and honestly, they make you better too. So no, I don't know what you all used to face or are about to again. But I do know that you kids bring out the best in each other. So whatever you are facing Ren. You tell them about it and I'm sure that it'll turn out okay." Sojiro said. 

"You're right." Ren said after a period of silence. "Thanks."

Sojiro just nodded then stood up and walked to the door. He looked back at Ren with a smile before leaving.  
\-----

Ren sat down and massaged his brow. The memories with Akechi he'd talked about earlier were not ones he'd expected to revisit. But thanks to his talk with Sojiro he felt strangely content.

He checked the clock on the wall. It was closing time. He stood up and walked to the door flipping the sign to closed. Then he started his usual closing routine.

As he was switching off the last lights in the kitchen area he heard the bell ring as the door opened. He closed his eyes and sighed. He'd forgotten to lock the door as well.

"Sorry we're closed I'm going to have to-" He stopped when he turned and saw who had entered. To most people she was just a little girl in a blue dress with white hair however Ren knew this girl was actually his velvet room attendant and next to her was a man in a blue suit, also with white hair and yellow eyes. "Lavenza? What... what are you doing here?"

Lavenza smiled as she looked up at him. "Trickster. It's good to see you again. This is my older brother Theodore." She said as Theodore bowed a little. "I hope you don't mind our intrusion." She said.

"No, not at all!" Ren said quickly. "Sit down please, let me put some lights back on. Do you two want coffee? Maybe Curry?" He asked. He suspected they were at least curious about coffee given how the twins were constantly intrigued by everything.

"Hmm. I would like one hot, delicious, coffee please." Theodore asked politely, sitting down at the counter.

"Yes, I too would like to try this coffee." Lavenza added.

Ren looked back at her having a thought. Lavenza was technically a child, at least physically. Could she even have coffee? Ah well, it wasn't his problem to deal with. "So what brings you here Lavenza?" He asked as he began making the coffee for them.

"Ah yes. I came to give you, how humans say, a heads up." She said. "Something has happened, a new malevolent force has appeared and drawn our attention. Our master secretly suspects that this is a very powerful force, I suspect that is the reason why he has instructed us to gather all the wildcards." Lavenza continued.

Ren looked at her. Oh. That was alot to take in. "Oh." He said. "That... wow. First things first. A new malevolent force? A force like Yaldabaoth?" He asked.

"Yes that's right, although it seems that it is a more powerful force than he was." She answered. Ren nodded. A new malevolent force. Great. Wait, would that exain the metanav returning?

"And what's this about other wildcards? I thought that I was the only one now." Ren asked.

"No there are others. Three to be exact. I'm sure you'll meet them soon." Lavenza said.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that honestly. It was kinda daunting. "Here's your coffee." He said placing their coffee in front of them. "Enjoy!" He watched as they both took a sip. Theodore smiled as he drank while Lavenza drank hesitantly.

"This is very good coffee Mr Trickster." Theodore commented. Ren nodded in thanks.

"YesImustagree." He heard Lavenza say quickly. When he turned to her he saw an empty cup and she was practically vibrating in her seat. Oh dear. "Ienjoythiscoffeeverymuch." She said very quickly. "Itisverytastyanddelicious."

Ren shook his head. He wasn't sure what effect he expected it to have on her but it wasn't that. He sighed once again. He had alot of questions and they seemed eager to talk. Turns out he was right after all. This was turning out to be a very long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so Ren is still dealing with some stuff. I hate to make a chapter purely based in one location but I felt it wouldn't be right to shove something else in there for the sake of it. Anyway, I promise that Ren's concerns aren't nothing and will come into play later. As always, hope you enjoyed and I'd love to hear your thoughts.


	7. Suspicions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After meeting Ren Amimiya in Cafe Leblanc, Naoto and Yu share their suspicions about the things he said and the way he acted. Chie, Teddy and Yosuke check on the T.V world and the Investigation Team hold their first meeting after reuniting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay in updating, some stuff happened in life you all now how that gets sometimes. Anyway I'm going to try and go back to a schedule to start having regular updates again. One week will be Thick as Thieves the next will be this.

Yu and Naoto walked out of Cafe Leblanc. "That was good coffee, don't you think Naoto?" Yu said.

"Hmm, oh yes it was quite tasty." She said, seemingly having been interupted from a thought. Yu, of course picked up on this.

"What is it?" He asked. He knew it didn't matter if he asked. He'd known Naoto long enough to know she'd share it anyway. But he liked to ask anyway.

"It's about the things he said. What was the last part? Didn't it seem almost like a threat?" She asked.

Yu thought for a second. "Yeah, now that you point it out, it did. What was it he said? Sometimes it's better to let sleeping dogs lie?"

"Yes that's right. Sleeping dogs? Why that phrase? Could it be that he doesn't want us to look too in depth with this?" Naoto said, walking forward with Yu towards the station.

"I agree, he clearly knows more than he told us. But I also think there's something else going on, did you see how he froze when we walked in? And then how tense he got when we said we're detectives, there's some history there." Yu added.

"Yes, truthfully I hadn't noticed that. I can look into it some other time but Akechi takes priority." Naoto said honestly. "He said his relationship with Akechi was quite complicated and that his friends didn't like him, unexpected don't you think?"

Yu drew his fingers to his chin. "Yeah it is, every time Akechi appeared on television or the media he had a positive, kind attitude. But Ren made Akechi sound so serious. Perhaps we would gain some insight into that by asking one of Ren's friends." 

"Yes perhaps." Naoto agreed. "I still don't understand something. Why hide something from us? What does he have to gain?" She asked herself.

"I've been asking myself the same thing. I disagree with you on not looking into Ren, I think there's something about him anther once we find it everything else will slot into place." Yu argued.

"Well it's not like we're short on manpower. We can bring it up with the others." Naoto said as they approached the station. "There's one last major thing on my mind though."

"What's that?" Yu asked.

"He told us that Akechi wasn't involved in the Shido scandal. But that information hasn't been released to the public yet..." She said as they walked into the station.  
\----------

"I still don't understand why I have to come." Chie moaned.

"I told you already, because I can't block Ted from sight on my own. " Yosuke reminded her.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." She said brushing him off.

"Man, do you guys ever stop arguing. Seriously, ever since I came here you've argued more times than you've not." Teddy said skipping along.

"What are you so cheery about Ted?" Chie asked.

"Yeah, why are you skipping?" Yosuke added 

"Why not? I like to be happy and skipping makes me alot happier than just walking, besides walking normally is just boring." Teddy explained as he skipped through the hallways of Junes.

"Well, I never thought of it that way." Chie admitted.

"Alright the TV is just ahead." Yosuke said.

Chie just looked at him. "Gee, thanks Captain Obvious. It's not like I came here weekly for a year straight or anything." She said sarcastically.

Yosuke rolled his eyes and took a look around, looking for amy customers around. When he was confident no one was near he approached the TV. "Let's do it quickly."

Teddy approached the TV. Chie and Yosuke moved into positions behind him to cover him from the sight of anyone who may approach. Teddy raised his hand to the TV screen as he'd done many times before when entering the TV world. However where he expected his hand to pass through, it was met only with glass.

"It's not working." Teddy said in suprise.

"What? What do you mean its not working?" Chie exclaimed.

"I mean, I can't enter the TV. I just hit glass." Teddy clarified.

At this Yoauke turned around and tried himself, only to meet the same result. "Ted do you still have a connection to the other world at least?" He asked.

"Yes I do, that's why it's weird." He said.

"Argh, why isn't anything ever simple!" Chie moaned.

"Maybe it's just this TV? We could try different ones?" Teddy suggested. 

Chie and Yosuke shrugged at each other. "Worth a shot." Chie said.

They spent the next ten minutes or so going through the Junes electronics section, trying every TV they saw. None of them allowed them to pass through to the other side.

"Well this can't be good." Chie said, sighing.

"Let's head back and tell Yukiko, then we can pack our stuff to stay in Tokyo and get the train tomorrow." Yosuke said.

\----------

"Alright. First, a recap from our last official meeting. Yu and Rise revealed to the group that the midnight channel had appeared once again, this time featuring two people. One was an unknown blue haired man, the other was the late detective prince Goro Akechi who has been dead for about half a year. We, the self titled Inveatigation team and being ex persona users, decided to investigate this strange phenomena." Naoto said, gathering her notes on the table in front of her.

The Investigation Team was currently in Rise and Yu's apartment, they'd gathered to have another meeting. It had been four days since they met at Penguin Sniper. Since then they've each done some investigating into the reappearance of the TV world or the two who appeared on it.

"Who's going first?" Kanji asked, from the couch armrest he was sitting on.

"I guess we will." Yu said. He leaned forward onto the table to get a look at Naotos notes to remind himself. "We descovered the identity of this boy in the picture. Ren Amimiya, he works at a small coffee shop called Cafe Leblanc and he's a third year at Shujin Academy." Yu paused. "We asked him about Akechi's death and he confirmed that he is in fact dead, but what's unusual is that he also spoke about Akechi like he was a different person to the detective prince. He and his friends had a complicated relationship with him apparently."

Rise tilted her head. "Well it's not unusual for public figures to be different from their public personas. After all, I would know."

Naoto shook her head. "This wasn't that. Ren also knows more than he told us, additionally, he also threatened us..."

"It's worth noting, we're not sure if it was a threat or a warning..." Yu added quickly.

"There is something else. Amimiya had knowledge about the ties between Goro Akechi and Masayoshi Shido. The problem with that, is that the police haven't announced their tie to the public." Naoto said.

"But, then how would he know about it?" Yukiko asked, sitting on the couch.

"The only way he could is if he was involved somehow." Chie said. "There's no other way he could know about their tie."

"Yeah. And that means we just opened a whole other can of worms." Kanji commented.

"Yeah, a can of worms that involves the ex prime minister, the second coming of the detective prince and the phantom thieves." Yosuke added.

There was a pause as everybody realised the scale of the conspiracy they had descovered. 

"Lets move on for now, Teddy did you have any luck with the TV world?" Yu asked, trying to change the subject.

"No, I couldn't get in." Teddy said. "We went to Junes and none of us could get in, when we touched the TV it was just glass."

"Really? But I thought you still couldn't sense the TV world, surely then we should be able to access it right?" Rise asked.

"Apparently not. You're sure you couldn't get in." Naoto asked.

"Yeah we are, we tried like a hundred different TV's just to be sure." Chie responded with.

"Well. Shit." Yu sighed. "If we can't get into the TV world then there's nothing we can do with the midnight channel. Our only option is pursuing Akechi."

"Well, you always talk about wanting to investigate the phantom thieves Naoto. At least you get to investigate them after all." Yukiko said.

"So where do we go with this? What's the next step of the investigation?" Rise asked.

"Well there's several different leads to pursue." Naoto said. "The first is we investigate how Akechi died, I do have a suspicion but it's to early to tell. The second lead us we investigate Akechi's the to Masayoshi Shido. The third is we investigate Ren Amimiya." She continued.

"You want to look into the kid? Why?" Chie asked.

"He's the missing piece of the puzzle. The way he talked about Akechi, the relationship Akechi had with him and his friends, knowing about Shido and Akechi and then threatening us to stay away from it. None of it fits." Yu said.

"So we need to gain insight into him, how do we do that?" Teddy asked.

"I may be able to help with that." Rise said raising a hand. "So the name sounded familiar so I looked around a bit more. Have any of you heard of Ann Takamaki?" She asked.

"That young Vague model? I've seen some of her shoots." Kanji said. "What? I like the fashion." He said when everyone looked at him.

"Well it's pretty obvious but that blonde girl in that picture from Penguin Sniper is her. But there's a rumor going around, that she's dating someone. Well I asked this journalist I know about the rumor and apparently, not only is she dating someone but she's dating Ren." Rise said.

"They told you that? I'm suprisef, did you pay her for it?" Yosuke asked.

"Nope, she's very talkative when she's drunk, which is alot honestly. Look my point is, Ren's clearly guarded around you so why not approach his friends about this?" She said.

"That's not a bad idea actually. You look like you have an idea already." Chie admitted.

"I do, I pulled some strings. Ann uses the same agency I do, I also found out she's got a shoot tomorrow. After the shoot, who knows? Maybe she'll meet and bond with a famous idol over lunch..." She said smirking.


	8. Visions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minako and Minato both run into complications.

Minako paused before walking in. She wasn't sure if she was ready to see him again yet. Earlier she was desperate to know but now... now she had to actually confront it. And with what had happened to her, with his memories, it was just too overwhelming right now.

She walked down the hallway a bit, to the open window. Perhaps she just needed some air. She leaned against the wall, head in the open window and took a deep breathe. Again she was reminded of memories that weren't hers, she'd lost count now. Ever since a couple of hours ago they'd been popping in her head without warning or prompt and each time they did, they hurt. Like her brain was fighting it.

She clutched her head, the pain killers she'd taken earlier were not helping at all. It was so painful, so very painful and she wanted it to stop. She needed it to stop. Yu Narukami. That was the name Igor said right? Yu Narukami.

"Minako?" She turned and saw Mitsuru standing looking at her. "Are you alright? You look pale as a ghost." She said, approaching.

Minako needed to tell her. With the Kirijo group's resources they could find him no problem. "Yu... Narukami." She muttered, which surprised her. She didn't expect to have trouble speaking. Come to think of it, she was feeling rather dizzy.

"Yu Narukami? Who is that?" Mitsuru asked, growing more concerned. "Minako?" She asked, right before Minako collapsed. Luckily Mitsuru caught her. "Hey! Akihiko get over here! Someone call for a doctor."

Minako felt herself losing consciousness. She needed to get the message across. She had to find Yu Narukami, he was a wildcard and could help her.

Mitsuru coddled her as she heard footsteps coming towards them. Then she spoke. "Find Yu Narukami... he can... help me." After that she went limp as she passed out. "Minako!" Mitsuru carefully moved a hand free so that she could check her vitals.

"What happened?" Akihiko shouted as he saw Minako. He crouched down and Mitsuru carefully shifted her so that he could support her.

"She walked away then I came to make sure she was okay. She said a name then collapsed." Mitsuru explained taking out a phone. "It's me. Prepare a bed and get the doctor currently on call. It's an emergency a friend has just passed out suddenly." She spoke to the person on the otherside. Then she took out a different phone. "It's Mitsuru. I need you start looking into a name for me it's important... no that can wait it's fine... Yu Narukami... I have nothing else. Call me the moment you have something or someone."

Akihiko coddled her and put a hand to her forehead. "She's burning hot, we need to cool her down." He said.

"We can't do that here. Come, we need to get her downstairs to the doctor." She said quickly. "Can you carry her?"  
\----------

Everything was white now. When did that happen? He was just in the Velvet Room, waiting. He'd been waiting for a long time so hed phased out. But then when he phased back in everything was white and Igor and the attendants were gone.

The hallway looked kinda like the school come to think of it. What he remembered of it anyway. He had nothing else to do so he just started walking. He didn't know for how long. He didn't grow tired in the velvet room, or hungry, sore. And he didn't here, so he assumed this was part of Velvet room, maybe an off section or something.

"What's this? Who are you?" He heard. It wasn't quite a physical voice but it wasn't totally telepathic either. It was a unique sensation. Like, an instinct he felt that translated as a thought.

"Who's there?" Minato spoke. After he did not feel nor hear any response he spoke again. "Is this the Velvet room?" Still no response. "Tartarus maybe?"

"Tartarus? The Velvet Room, that one sounds familiar. This isn't that... place." So, this wasn't the Velvet room then or tartarus. So where was he? He kept walking. He couldn't do anything else.

He couldn't keep track of time so he didn't know how long he walked. But he walked for a while, he knew that. Eventually the white halls that gave off a peaceful vibe started to feel sinister and claustrophobic. Like they were watching him. "How did you get here?" He heard someone say from behind him.

They were dressed in white, to match the hallway. He had slicked back light brown hair and redish brown eyes. "You shouldn't be here. It shouldn't be possible, not yet."

"I don't know how I got here and honestly I don't care, I just want to get out." He responded. "Frankly, I don't care who you are as long as you can lead me out of here." Minato said dismissively.

"Follow me." The figure said turning. "And for the record, my name is Goro."

"I don't care." Minato said following him. They walked more in silence until the man, Goro, stopped. He turned to back.

"I wish to show you something." He said walking through two pillars, Minato followed.

He walked again in silence until he came to two pillars, in-between them was a wall. "Before I lead you out, I feel I should explain where we are."

"If that's what you want." Minato responded with. He really truly didn't care, but if it got him closer to getting back to the Velvet Room then he would oblige him. 

"This is known as the Halls of Nothing. It's quite the accurate name. It's like a museum of sorts or a storage unit." Goro explained. 

"Storage unit for what?" Minato asked. 

Goro looked at the wall as images appeared. The first was a woman dead in her home, suicide. The second was a blinding image of blue flame, it surrounded the image. The third was a bald man with glasses. "Of memories..." Goro eventually answered.

Goro approached Minato and put his palm to his forehead, he held it there for several seconds before taking it off suddenly. "You... have none to store?" He said in disbelief. "How can you not have any, you are human."

Minato shrugged. "I don't know, can you show me the way out now."

Goro's calm and tranquil expression turned hateful and sour. "You want the way out? Follow me." He turned and started running down the hallway. Minato followed.

Goro was fast but Minato could keep up, mainly thanks to his training from long Tartarus grinds. They stopped when they came to a television screen. It was weird though, like they were on the inside looking out. "If you have the skill, then this is one way out. If you don't have the skill... then good luck." Goro said. Minato blinked as he went to speak then he was gone. He felt one last whisper in his ear. "You should know, time is different here. I think you'll be here a while."

Minato felt a chill down his spine. He turned to the screen. Might as well try, he thought. Gingerly, he raised a hand to touch the screen.  
\----------

Aegis walked forward fast, towards the stairs. She had no need to go through security checks, she had special permission from Mitsuru herself. One of the perks of being a shadow killing robot. She walked up the stairs quickly until she got to the twenty second floor. She entered the hallway that led from the stairway and walked to her destination, ignoring the doctors, nurses and other workers standing in the hallways.

She knew she'd found the right room when she saw Mitsuru standing outside, looking out a window. "Mitsuru-san. I have returned." Aegis said as she approached.

Mitsuru turned to her. "Aegis. It's good to see you." She said warmly, smilling to her.

Aegis acknowledged her response with a small nod then looked to the room they were in front of. "Are they in there?" She asked.

Mitsuru nodded. "Yes, they are."

Aegis started walking to the door. "Aegis, wait...." She stopped as Mitsuru requested. "Just..." She sighed. "Nevermind." Mitsuru said sighing once more.

Aegis approached the room and opened the door. There were four beds in total with two currently in use. Aegis blinked as she looked at the patients. On the bed on the left lay a young man with blue hair, it looked like he was asleep. Next to the man, sat in a chair was a young woman with neck length light brown hair and a pink sweater. She was clinging to his arm and lying her head on part of the bed.

Lying on the right bed was a woman with auburn hair, she had a mask on which was hooked up to some sort of breathing apparatus. Sitting next to her was a man with short silver hair, he was cluthing her hand and reading a book. 

It was unmistakable, these were the twins albeit looking different than when Aegis last saw them. Minako was looking pale and weakly and Minato was, well he was alive. A twinge of guilt flared up in Aegis. Even though the dangers to them that Aegis had the capability to protect them from had long been defeated, she still felt responsible for their wellbeing or at least for Minako's.

She walked further into the room and saw as Akihiko looked up. "Aegis? It's good to see you, I'm glad you're here." He said bookmarking his page and standing.

"It is good to see you to Akihiko-san. I wish it were under better circumstances." Aegis responded with before approaching Minako. "What happened."

"She fainted, she was about to walk in to see Minato but she must have needed air." Mitsuru said from behind her. "I asked her if she was alright then she collapsed. A couple hours after she fainted she stopped breathing naturally so the doctors hooked her up to that. That was a couple days ago now, she's only gotten worse."

Aegis closed her eyes and put a hand on Minako's arm, she was cold and her pulse was slower than normal. "The doctors don't know what's wrong with her, their leading theory is that she's suffered something reminiscent of a stroke but... I'm not sure." Aegis felt scared, which wasn't something she felt alot of these days.

Mitsuru looked towards Minato. "Then there's him... physically he's in peak health but whenever he's conscious he talks gibberish for about an hour then passes out." Aegis walked over to him, she looked at Yukari who seemed to be sleeping on his arm. "She hasn't left his side since she saw him." Mitsuru said.

"I don't blame her." Akihiko commented. "It's been what, eight or nine years since she last saw him. I guess that's true for all of us though but Yukari... she probably doesn't know how to process all of this." He added. Aegis gently crouched beside her and brushed some hair out of her face before standing again.

She stood looking at the twins for a couple minutes, thinking to herself before looking to Mitsuru. "Mission report is ready." Mitsuru looked at her with a slightly surprised expression.

"Alright, then let's go to my office." She said turning before stopping at Akihikos voice.

"No need for that, it's not like anyone except doctors are gonna come in." He pointed out.

"Good point, we'll do it here then. Let's start with the basic checks, do you remember the mission brief?" Mitsuru asked, now finding a chair to sit down.

"I do. Following a massive spike of energy from the potential shadow nest in Tokyo on Christmas Eve last year, I was sent to investigate." She said, also sitting down.

"And?" Mitsuru asked.

"I was not able to confirm the source of the energy spike or the location of any shadow nest." Mitsuru closed her eyes and said something quietly to herself. "However there were anomalies at multiple locations but they disappeared as I got close."

"I see, how unusual..." Mitsuru said quietly. "Thank you for the report Aegis, is there anything else to add?"

"Yes actually, after each anomaly disappeared I felt some... fluctuations within my head... it was weird." Aegis commented.

"I see. We'll have someone examine you later." She said before withdrawing in thought. Aegis turned her attention towards the twins again and saw Yukari stirring. "Aegis?" She said rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

"Hello Yukari, I'm glad to see you." She said.

"It's good to see you too." She said warmly, Aegis could read from her expression and body language that she was feeling a little overwhelmed. Yukari sighed and looked to each of the twins. "They always have to make everything a competition. First it was shadow kills, then exam scores and now it's who can be the most ill. Stupid Arisato Twins." She said with a laugh.

"Candidate found." Aegis suddenly said before covering her mouth. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that, I did not mean to say anything at all."

The others looked at each other before Akihiko spoke up. "Maybe you should get examined sooner rather than later Aegis..."

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know your thoughts on this, I'm eager to hear them. I'm unsure of an update schedule yet, I'll wait to see what people think of this first. Anyway thanks for reading xx


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